News | March 11, 2013

D&H Resellers Have Access to Breakthrough Cloud Solutions, Which Empower VARs with All the Necessary Amenities for the Sale and Deployment of Cloud Infrastructures

HARRISBURG, PA – Leading North American computer products distributor D&H Distributing announces it has developed a new roster of services designed to enable SMB resellers to profit from a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions. Foremost among these, the distributor has become a strategic distribution partner for Cloud Nation’s innovative cloud solutions platform and community portal, which delivers a comprehensive roster of training, services and technologies needed for SMB resellers to sell and maintain cloud-based infrastructures.

Cloud Nation is a newly-launched, membership-based Cloud Services Aggregator, delivering a full range of solutions and services to allow resellers in the SMB market to sell cloud-based infrastructures. The portfolio of resources it offers for reseller includes:

Initial “Cloud Essentials” training and certification

Access to additional, advanced training/certification

Access to a Cloud Solutions Platform, which offers amenities such as virtual desktops and servers, turn-key cloud-based infrastructure solutions and ongoing managed services for the end-customer

Access to the Cloud Nation Community Portal containing peer advice, news, product information and support

Ongoing sales and marketing support

Multi-tiered billing options

Empowering VARs with Comprehensive Resources

Many of the aspects of selling virtual solutions—from managing multiple vendors, to developing a unified billing platform, to identifying products, to deploying and managing virtual desktops and servers—are prohibitive to the typical independent reseller. Cloud Nation is designed to aggregate all these services on behalf of its member VARs, enabling resellers who would not otherwise have been able to enter this burgeoning marketplace to sell cloud services and solutions.

“Independent resellers are hungry to start making money in the cloud, and plenty of vendors are looking to see their products applied in these environments,” said Jeff Davis, senior vice president of sales at D&H Distributing. “Yet there is a certain amount of complexity in learning, deploying and maintaining these virtualized solutions that puts it beyond the means of the average VAR selling into regional and small business environments. Cloud Nation delivers comprehensive resources, filling in the knowledge or technology gaps that might hinder an independent reseller from thriving in this category. We’re proud to be able to partner with Cloud Nation in offering this solutions platform, which outpaces anything currently in the SMB sector designed for this purpose.”

“The cloud has been inaccessible to many SMB VARs, yet 63% of small and medium size businesses say they’re looking to make the transition in the next six months,” noted Tom Poole, CEO and co-founder at Cloud Nation. “Cloud Nation is a comprehensive cloud solutions aggregator, empowering VARs to embrace this opportunity. We’ve had a long term relationship with D&H and there is no distributor we’d rather partner with to drive the Cloud Nation. Together we can significantly increase the reseller’s ability to generate ongoing revenues in a market that is exploding with potential.”

Membership to Cloud Nation will require resellers to complete the Company’s Cloud Essentials training and become “CNCPs” (Cloud Nation Certified Professionals). Member VARs will be able to sell to a roster of cloud-based technologies from top-flight vendors through Cloud Nation, such as virtual desktops and servers from leading manufacturers. These vendors’ products can be offered to end-customers under the VAR’s own brand. Vendor partners include Microsoft, Adobe and Citrix.

Cloud Education from D&H

To round out D&H’s new cloud services portfolio, the company recently added a customizable brochure template to its Partner Services resources library entitled “What Is Cloud Computing and What Does It Mean For My Business?” Resellers can use this piece to communicate the benefits and productivity gains associated with a Microsoft Office 365 cloud deployment. The distributor is also hosting a seminar at its March 14 West Coast Technology Trade Show in Industry Hills, CA, entitled “The 5 Challenges When Becoming a Cloudie,” presented by Cloud Nation.

“As more resellers look to cloud-based sales, we want to get them up to speed and turning over income as quickly as possible,” said D&H’s Davis. “With Cloud Nation, resellers won’t have the same learning curve and barriers to entry that they might have had. When we encourage our partners to breach new sales areas, and we arm them with the right strategies, that translates to growth for everyone.”

About D&H Distributing

As the nation’s leading technology distributor, D&H provides a wealth of resources to empower solution providers and consultants, delivering a broad selection of SMB categories, products and applications. The company’s offerings span server and infrastructure, SOHO and mobile applications, consumer electronics and gaming. D&H’s multi-market expertise, account-dedicated sales teams, sterling service and flexible financing options are unmatched in the industry.

With an impressive 95-year history serving as a trusted advisor to the reseller channel, D&H has been able to consistently reinvent itself based upon changing market conditions. The company prides itself on creating business partnerships with an astute focus on ease-of-doing-business, relationships, value, performance and service.

D&H has been named Cisco’s Worldwide Small Business Distributor of the Year, won the Microsoft Licensing Operational Excellence Award seven years running and has been named Microsoft’s OEM Distributor of the Year. The company ships out of five separate locations in North America, including its US headquarters in Harrisburg and its Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. Additional US warehouses are located in Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; and Fresno, CA. Call D&H toll-free at (800) 340-1001 or visit www.dandh.com.

About Cloud Nation

Seattle-based Cloud Nation has quickly emerged as a leading Cloud Solutions Aggregator based on its strategy to empower resellers with a comprehensive suite of solutions to offer to small and medium size businesses (SMBs). The company’s offering includes initial training and certification, an industry leading platform cloud solutions platform, unified billing solutions, and integrated sales and marketing support for its members.

Cloud Nation’s in depth training program and CNCP (Cloud Nation Certified Professional) designation is one of the first vendor neutral certifications designed to provide resellers with the tools necessary to successfully support SMBs interested in making a transition to the cloud. For more information, contact Cloud Nation at (206) 462-4590 and visit us at www.cloudnation.co.